Welcome to Racerhead and the dog days of winter, or maybe these are the winter doldrums, or whatever we call this period of downtime from races. Because it's not really the off-season anymore, as everyone involved in Monster Energy AMA Supercross is working hard right now shaking down bikes, testing their settings, getting in shape, and just basically planning to hit the road around this time next month, if all goes according to plan. And this still being 2020, of course nothing can be really certain to go according to plan! Still, we're counting on the 2021 SX season to start on January 16 and stay for a week of residency in Texas—a state that has technically never really hosted the opening round of a season, unless you count 1988. That's the year multiple SX promoters were feuding and the Anaheim SX opener, set for January 30, was run without an AMA sanction. It was clumsily called the MTEG Coors Super Crown of Stadium Motocross, as the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group had the exclusive right to hold dirt events in all of the California stadiums, but Mike Goodwin had the contract with the AMA to be the exclusive promoter of AMA Supercross events in California. It would end badly, but that's a whole different story.
So on January 30, 1988, a race was held at Anaheim, won by Rick Johnson of Team Honda, followed by Micky Dymond of Team Yamaha, Jeff Ward of Team Kawasaki, Broc Glover of Team Yamaha, and Erik Kehoe of Suzuki. For all intents and purposes it was the first "supercross race" of 1988—it just didn't count in the AMA Supercross standings. One week later, at the Houston Astrodome, defending champion Jeff Ward got the win over Johnson, Dymond, Kawasaki's Ron Lechien, and Kehoe. The record book shows that Houston race as the 1988 AMA Supercross opener. Confused? So was I, but thanks to Jason Weigandt for reminding me of this strange saga.
In case you're wondering, last year there was no SX race planned for Houston on the original schedule. The last time the series visited NRG Stadium was 2019, and the race was won by Red Bull KTM's Cooper Webb, followed by his teammate Marvin Musquin, Rockstar Energy Husqvarna's Dean Wilson, Kawasaki's Eli Tomac, and Honda's Cole Seely. The 250SX West Region round was won by Monster Energy/Star Racing Yamaha's Dylan Ferrandis.
In Southern California and Florida, the test tracks and private tracks have been humming with activity, including the time-honored team photo shoots for posters and autograph stock. It all looks and feels a little different, as there is no Yamaha factory team and no JGR Suzuki, but there is now a Star Racing Yamaha 450 team and Troy Lee Designs/Red Bull/GasGas team. The latter is off to a great start, too, as Justin Barcia has already snagged a cover for them, landing on the front page of our brand-new issue. It's the first time we've ever had a GasGas on the cover. It's also the first time in a while that we've seen Barcia in different threads than the Alpinestars gear we've long seen him wearing, probably all the way back to his GEICO Honda days. (TLD also picked up rookie-to-be Max Vohland, who is on the Red Bull KTM factory team.) As for Alpinestars, they still have quite a stable of athletes, including defending AMA Supercross Champion Eli Tomac, former champ Jason Anderson, they just signed two-time 250SX East Region champion Chase Sexton, former FIM Motocross World Champions Jeffrey Herlings and Romain Febvre over in Europe, Dutch Yamaha rider Glenn Coldenhoff, and now Team Honda's Hunter and Jett Lawrence, and more. That's a solid global lineup!
The Link LonkDecember 12, 2020 at 07:20AM
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Recapping the 1988 Supercross Season Opener, Retro Yamaha Gear, & More - Racer X Online
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